Arsenal: Hey, don’t forget that one thing that went right against Liverpool

Arsenal were torn apart by Liverpool like soft bread, but let’s not lose the one thing that went right in the midst of the dung heap that we just saw.

I’m running out of analogies to describe what we just saw happen to our Arsenal at Anfield. How many ways can you describe a complete an utter slaughter, like a live pig being shredded against an industrial-sized cheese grater (there we go, another one)?

For perhaps the first time, I am not going to argue with people who just want to say that the entire match was horrible and everyone sucks. Fine by me. For the time being, let’s go ahead and role with that psychology, because that was pretty clear. No team should look that pathetic, I don’t care who the opposition is.

That said. I would not be doing my part if I didn’t reach into that shredded pig carcass (still alive, mind you), pull out the single piece of salvageable meat, and make an underwhelming sandwich out of it.

While the defense was terrible, and the fullbacks sucked, and the central midfield lost the battle, and Aubameyang was irrelevant, the wide attacking play from the Alex Iwobi/Ainsley Maitland-Niles duo was quite impressive.

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So impressive (perhaps only by contrast, but bear with me) that I actually look forward to when the two can play together again. I would hope that this comes true against Fulham, though honestly, the fewer similarities we see between the XI against Fulham and the shredded pig parts that started against Liverpool, the better.

In all seriousness though, Iwobi and Maitland-Niles were the lone bright spot on the day. They used their speed and athleticism quite well in their bid to make this not hopeless. Iwobi’s attacking play substituted for where Kolasinac failed. He was effective throughout the course of the match and, to his utmost credit, was not dispossessed a single time.

Maitland-Niles, meanwhile, found so much joy on that right hand side, drifting centrally as well as maintaining his width in the attack. He scored his first Premier League goal, and don’t underestimate how good of a finish it was, and was not exposed like many expected him to be.

This match was horrible. I’ll probably have nightmares for weeks. But it’s important in times like this not to lose that little glimmer of positivity. Otherwise, what’s the point of any of this?